


Borrowed Time

by m_oliverfan



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Slow Burn, Spoilers for briarwood arc, Time Travel, beau meets vox machina, spoilers through campaign 2 episode 88 maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:49:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26315971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_oliverfan/pseuds/m_oliverfan
Summary: What if the Mighty Nein had enough downtime that Essek was able to help Caleb create a spell to bend time itself? And what if Beau somehow got caught in the crosshairs?Or, a time-travel au where Beau travels back in time and meets Vox Machina, right as they are walking up to Whitestone. She doesn't know how much time she'll get with these new and strange people, but the more time she spends with them the more they start to feel like a new family. And the more a certain half-elf twin starts to dig her way under Beau's skin, right to her heart.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Vex'ahlia
Comments: 33
Kudos: 228





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this ship probably has about 2 followers in this fandom, but I had this story stuck in my head for some goddamn reason and i had to get it out.

Beau was bored. 

She paced back and forth in the fighting pit they had arranged in their home in Rexxentrum. She got into a fighting stance and ducked out of the way of an imaginary punch, performing a backflip and whipping her staff around to knock her imaginary opponent prone. She stood up and shook out her sore muscles before throwing down her staff on the floor. 

Beau sighed and flopped down on the floor, her limbs spread out around her. She laid there as her breathing evened out and her sweat grew cold on her forehead. She could hear banging from other parts of the house. Jester was trying to sneak into Fjord's room to finally paint him a mural, and Nott was downstairs screeching at Fjord, distracting him so that Jester could paint ‘ocean dicks.’ She could hear the faint notes of a harp from the direction of Yasha’s room. Caduceus was up in his tower, spending time with his plants and probably gazing longingly at his bone flute. They had collectively put their foot down after the third day in a row he spent up to five hours blowing into that thing. He got one hour a day in the house now. 

Beau tried to imagine what Caleb was doing and rolled her eyes. Essek had arrived earlier that morning and they had been holed up in Caleb’s workshop all day. She’d like to think he was finally getting it on with the guy, but she knew they were nerding out over some dunamancy time magic shit. They’d been doing that for every day for the last week, ever since Caleb heard Essek say something about dunamancy’s “ability to bend reality.” 

She knew what he was trying to do. She had guessed ever since he had first asked Essek for lessons in dunamancy. It wasn’t that hard to figure out, since she knew the most unsavory parts of his past and how much it weighed on him. Killing your parents would weigh on anyone, she supposed. He wanted to go back and change it, obviously. And he had time to work on it now, she thought with annoyance. They were just waiting around for the peace talks to start happening. They probably had another week until they needed to teleport over to Nicadranas and start traveling on their ship.

She traced the lines in the stone ceiling above her and took out one of her throwing stars. She closed one eye as she aimed and threw one up, watching it stick solidly in one of the cracks above her. She smirked and took out another one. Might as well try and make something, she thought as she examined the potential patterns she could make. Jester would appreciate a dick made of throwing stars. 

With that thought, her stomach soured and the hand holding her next star fell to the ground. Jester would be too busy with Fjord’s painting to pay much attention. She was always focused on Fjord.  
Beau huffed at herself and started trying to climb up the wall to get her throwing star back off the ceiling. There’s no point in moping about it, she thought to herself. Jester is Beau’s best friend. Beau should be happy if Jester is happy. No matter who she chooses.

There wasn’t even a choice though. She landed deftly on her bare feet and tucked her throwing stars away. It had always been Fjord. 

Later that evening, Caleb burst into the room she shared with Jester, breathing heavily with his eyes glistening with excitement. She turned from where she was leaning against the balcony, muscles tensed in surprise until she saw that it was him. 

“Beauregard.” He walked quickly over to her, his hands wringing and an almost manic gleam to his eyes. “I’ve done it.” 

She walked forward and met him halfway in the room. “Done what?” 

“Essek and I – we’ve done it.” He grasped her hands in his own and leaned forward. “I can go back and fix it.” 

“Wait, wait, wait.” She shook her head to clear it and looked him over. “Have you eaten today? Have you been sleeping?” 

“Beauregard.” He grasped her arms and shook her slightly. “I can do it now.” He shook his head and started pacing back and forth. “I’ve waited so long, I can’t believe that – that…” He trailed off. 

“Are you seriously telling me you can go back in time?” She asked. 

“Yes!” He spun to face her with the largest smile she had ever seen on his face. “Yes! That’s exactly what I’m telling you.” 

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. When are you going to go?” 

“Now!” He exclaimed. 

“But Caleb,” She frowned. “What does this mean? Are you just going to be – gone?” 

He sat down on Beau’s bed and stared at his clasped hands. “I do not know.” He looked up at her. “But this is what I’ve been moving towards for so long, I – I cannot wait when it is right in front of me.” 

“No, yeah, I get it.” She walked forward and sat down beside him. “Are you going to tell anyone else?” 

“If Essek and I have done this correctly.” He said. “I will be gone for less than a minute, before returning back to the ritual circle. Years in the past would be like seconds for us now.” 

“How would you get back?” 

He waved a hand. “I have calculated everything, Beauregard. I can do this.” He was looking at her earnestly, almost pleading with her to believe him. 

“Will everything be the same for us? When you get back?” 

He reached into his jacket and pulled up a rolled piece of parchment. “If it is not, would you read this? With everybody?” He blinked fast a few times and produced another one. “And this one is for Nott.” 

Beau felt a sinking feeling in her gut. “This isn’t goodbye, Caleb. If you think that it might be - maybe it’s not worth it -.” 

“I have to atone for my crimes.” He looked at her with troubled eyes. “You must understand, Beauregard. This family - my new family - means everything to me. But I must fix my first family, if I have the ability to do so.” 

She clenched her jaw and eventually nodded. “Now, then?” 

“Would you like to be there?” He asked. “I would – I would like you to be.” 

“Yeah, Caleb, of course.” She stood up and motioned him to follow. “Let’s go down to your laboratory before the others get back.” 

They went down to Caleb’s laboratory. It was fairly messy in there, with papers scattered on every available surface and a half-finished circle filled with runes drawn in chalk in the center of the room.

“Okay, okay.” He sat down in the center of the circle. “Like I said, I should only be gone a moment. If it’s any longer than that…” He trailed off. “Go find Essek and he may be able to help.” 

“Why isn’t he here?” Beau asked as she sat down right outside of the circle. “Isn’t this his thing too?” 

“The Bright Queen called him.” Caleb said. “And he did not begrudge me the ability to complete the ritual as soon as possible.” 

“Do I need to do anything?” 

“No.” He started flipping through one of his books and started finishing the runes in the circle. “Beauregard.” He stopped drawing and looked up at her, his hand poised above the open section in the circle. “Thank you.” 

“Come back, Caleb.” She said. “Just come back.” 

He nodded at her and finished the mark. 

There was a flash of light, a ringing in Beau’s ears, and a sensation of falling before Beau fell back into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a few chapters already written, so I'll try and space them out a bit to give me time to write some more. I'm glad there's some of you who seem interested!

Beau woke up in a forest. 

She gasped as her eyes shot open, and she shot up to her feet in a fighting stance as she looked around wildly. Black spots entered her vision, and she staggered forward until she hit a tree and sagged against it until she could see again. 

Beau looked around wildly. She didn’t know if she had ever been here before. It looked like every other forest she had ever been in. She had a panicked moment before she relaxed as her hands grasped her staff on her back. She couldn’t see any sort of trail, so she picked a direction and hoped for the best. 

Caleb must have made some sort of mistake, she surmised as she picked her way through the trees. It must have been some sort of transportation spell instead of time travel. She shook her head to herself as she walked. Stupid wizard, she thought. Stupid wizard that she would follow anywhere, even into some unknown forest, probably on a different fucking continent. It was going to take her forever to get back. 

Beau walked for hours before anything happened. It was probably early in the afternoon when she heard the wolves howling. She stopped for a second, her head tilted as she tried to figure out the direction they were going. She started running as she realized they were coming in her direction, and far closer than she had thought. 

Beau ran, not worried about moving silently anymore as she heard the howling get closer and closer. She had just decided to jump up onto an upcoming large tree trunk with low-hanging branches, when her foot caught on a root sticking out of the ground and she fell face-first onto the forest floor. 

She jumped up and made to step towards the tree, but it was too late. She felt a slight shift in wind behind her and ducked out of the way in time to avoid the jaws of a snarling wolf that soared by her head. 

She turned and pulled out her staff, crouching down as four wolves took their places around her. 

“Well, shit.” She said. 

She quickly knocked a wolf out of the way as one of them lunged at her again. She took a swipe at it after it landed and yelped as she wacked it on the nose and then again on the top of its head.   
Another wolf lunged at her. She was too slow this time and its claws raked across her shoulder as she turned away. A third followed, catching her on one of her legs and she stumbled backwards, striking out with her staff at the fourth as it tried to bite her. 

She spun and struck at the one nearest her, sending it flying back into a near tree, and pivoted on her feet and dropping her staff momentarily as she struck out with her fists, getting three good hits before she had to duck out of the way again, scooping up her staff. 

They all crept forward, and her back hit a tree as her eyes darted around, trying to guess which one would lunge first. A pit of dread started forming in her stomach. “I’m not going to get killed by a bunch of dogs,” she snarled before making the next move and jumping over the wolves, smacking one as she landed on the other side. 

Two lunged at her at the same time, and she managed to smack one of them in the jaw. She tensed, waiting for the bite that she knew was coming, before looking over in surprise as the wolf fell with a thud, an arrow sticking out of its neck. 

Before she could look around for whatever else was in this forest with her, another wolf fell to a swarm of daggers and she knocked the next out with a good hit with her staff. The last wolf growled at her, before turning to flee. It didn’t get five feet before another arrow came out of the trees and it fell to the ground. 

Beau breathed heavily, gripping her staff tightly as she looked up to where the arrow came from. She took a step back as a slender figure dropped down to the ground next to her. Dark hair fell in a curtain around his face, and pointed ears and delicate features told her he was probably elvish. Her gaze was drawn to the daggers in his hands and she held her staff up in a defensive stance. 

He looked her up and down. “Who are you?” 

“Who are you?” She shot back at him. 

Another figure fell out of a tree with a loud thud. “Did you kill all the wolves without me?” A large goliath said, frowning at the dead forms on the forest floor. 

“If you hadn’t have slept through the fight, you could have killed one yourself.” A young man with a shock of white hair made his way down a different tree. He adjusted his glasses as he looked over at Beau. “Hello, there. Would you by any chance be from Whitestone?” 

“Whitestone?” Beau asked, racking her brain to try and remember where that was. “Isn’t that in…Tal’Dorei?” 

Another dark, slender figure dropped down beside the elvish guy. This one was female, with features nearly identical to the guy. “Oh don’t play that card, darling.” She had a knocked arrow pointed right at Beau’s chest. “The only reason we killed the wolves was because we’re trying not to bring any attention to our arrival, and you were making entirely too much noise.” 

Beau looked at them all. The white-haired guy had what looked like pistols at his sides, the half elves were pointing their weapons at her, and the goliath was holding a huge hammer that probably weighed more than Beau.

“So,” The white haired one said. “If you don’t come from Whitestone, how did you get to this remote forest right outside of the city, surrounded by mountains and the nearest town days away?” 

Beau contemplated telling the truth for a moment before deciding that the less information she gave these people the better for the time being. “I got lost.” She said. 

“You got lost?” The elvish woman asked incredulously. “Percy, are we really going to –?” 

“How did you possibly get so lost? There isn’t another town for days.” The guy with the hair – Percy, evidently – asked her. 

“It’s – complicated.” Beau said through her teeth. She stood up a little straighter, but didn’t let go of her white knuckled grip on her staff. “We’re in Tal’Dorei?” 

“Yes.” Percy said, tilting his head slightly. “Where did you think you were?” 

“I’m from Wildemount.” Beau said. “I… don’t know how I go here.” Kind of the truth, she thought to herself. 

“Is this the Briarwood’s work, Percy?” The elvish guy asked. “Maybe they messed with her mind in some way – modified her memory – and she escaped somehow.” 

“Maybe.” Percy was looking at her. “Do you remember meeting someone named Lady Briarwood? Silas?” 

Beau shook her head. 

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Should we just let her go, then?” 

“Of course not!” The elvish woman said. 

“We could kill her.” The goliath said, as if they were discussing what to eat for breakfast. 

“Why would we do that?” The elvish man asked. 

“What if she’s working for them?” The woman exclaimed, still pointing an arrow at Beau. 

“Look.” Beau said loudly, catching their attention. “I’m not fucking with you. I woke up in this forest maybe three hours ago. Before that, I was in Wildemount. I don’t know what the fuck happened and I don’t know who these Briarwood people are and the only thing I’ve ever heard about Whitestone is that they mine white stone!” She took a deep breath. “I would like to find a way to get back to my friends. It sounds like you all are in the middle of something, so I’ll just be on my way if you don’t mind.” She gestured towards the forest around them. 

There was a moment of silence. 

“Your friends are in Wildemount?” Percy asked. 

“Yes.” Beau said. 

“You’re right.” Percy said after a moment. “We are in the middle of something… important.” He leaned against a nearby tree. “Maybe you were captured by the Briarwoods and that’s why you are so confused…” He shrugged. “Or maybe some other magical anomaly has taken place and you found yourself here some other way. Regardless, we could possibly help you find this family of yours if you help us first.” 

“You can’t be serious.” The woman said. “What if she’s a spy? They know we’re coming.” 

“We need all the help we can get.” Percy said. “The whole city has been taken over. They have Sarenrae only knows how many vampires wandering around the town. She can fight, we just saw her take on five wolves all by herself.”

The woman snorted, “Not very well.” 

“I was just getting started.” Beau snarled at her. 

“Anyway.” Percy said loudly. “I want to take back my family’s home. If she can help, I will take it.” He looked her over. “And as far as her being a spy, well.” He shrugged. “We’ll just kill her if she turns on us.” 

Beau considered it for a second. What else was she supposed to do? Wander the woods in the middle of Tal'Dorei? “Sounds fair to me.” Beau looked between them all. “What exactly are you trying to do?” 

“Whitestone is my family’s home.” Percy said. “Two individuals, Delilah and Silas Briarwood, are vampires who killed my entire family and took over my city. We are going to start a revolution and take the city back.” 

Beau tossed her staff back and forth between her hands for a few beats before putting it on her back. “Sounds dope. I’m in.” 

“Just like that?” The woman asked. Her sharp eyes were looking at her critically. 

“I’m on the wrong continent.” Beau said. “If you guys can help me get back after all this is over, I’m more than willing to kill a few vampires.” She bared her teeth in a smile. “Sounds fun.” 

“I like her.” The goliath said, smiling back at her disconcertingly. 

At that moment, a giant eagle suddenly appeared in the middle of the group, and a small gnome hopped off its back. The eagle transformed into another elvish woman, this one with long red hair and antlers twisting up over her head. 

“Well, who is this?” The gnome asked, his sharp, little eyes moving towards Beau. His eyes roamed over her body and she got the sudden urge to knock him up the head with her staff. 

“Hey!” She said sharply. “Eyes up here, short-stack.” 

“Oh, a feisty one.” His eyes got brighter. 

“Are we fighting her?” The red haired one said. 

“Apparently not.” The other woman said, finally putting down her bow and arrow. 

“This is our new ally.” Percy said with a smile. Beau looked around at them all and let out a long breath. This was definitely the weirdest fucking day she'd ever had.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's another one for you! i wrote this a few months after watching the briarwood arc, so some of the details aren't going to be exactly canon. i also glossed over some moments because i didn't just want to narrate what we've all already watched happen on-screen.

Beau learned that the creepy little gnome was Scanlan, and that he sang entirely too much. Thankfully his initial creepiness wore off as Beau realized he was like that with literally anything that looked humanoid, and even his friends were not exempt. The one who could turn into an eagle was Keyleth, and her preferred animal was a giant white lion she called Minxie. Beau hadn’t met many druids in her life, so she wasn’t sure if her peculiarities were normal or just part of her odd personality. The twins were Vax and Vex, the most confusing pair of names Beau had ever heard, and they were half-elves. She still wasn’t entirely sure which one was the guy and which one the girl. The giant goliath was named Grog, and aside from Percy, he was the one who seemed the most unbothered by her presence. 

And she finally met Trinket, Vex’s - or Vax’s? - pet bear. 

They invited her up into their makeshift tree camp that night as Scanlan and Keyleth divulged what they saw as they were flying invisible over the city. 

“Zombies.” Scanlan said. “Zombies everywhere.” 

“And unhappy people.” Keyleth said. “Percy, was everyone always so sad when you lived here?” 

He grimaced. “I think it might have something to do with the change in nobility, Kiki.” 

“It would be easy to sneak in.” Scanlan said. “I could just cast seeming and we could be poor farmers!” 

“That’s actually not a terrible plan.” Vax said thoughtfully. 

“And there was this huge tree.” Keylyth was gazing out into the darkness, her eyes wide. “And it had –.” She cut herself off, taking a moment before going on. “It had eight bodies hanging on it.” 

“Sounds dark.” Beau said before she could stop herself. All eyes swiveled over to her. “I mean, that’s some fucked up shit.” 

Percy snorted. “It is very fucked up, isn’t it?” 

Vex sighed dramatically. “Can we go to sleep now? We can sneak in at dawn.” 

Beau didn’t get much sleep. 

She stared up at the stars she could see twinkling through the branches of the tree she was laying in. The faces of her friends stared at her from behind her eyelids whenever she closed her eyes, so she spent most of the night looking out over the forest and watching the group of strangers she’d fallen into. Watching Trinket sleep in a giant hammock that Keyleth made for him entertained her for a bit, but the uncertainty of the day made her body pulse with left-over adrenaline and caused sleep to come in short bursts, after which she felt less rested than before.

The next morning, Beau trailed the group, jittery with unease and eager for a fight. From the sounds of their plan, it didn’t seem like she was going to get one any time soon. Espionage was their game. Trying to start a rebellion, Beau shook her head at the thought. She’d much rather march up to the castle, leaving behind a trail of zombie corpses. 

Scanlan sang a song and they turned into poor farmers. Beau looked down at her dirty appearance and tried not to think of the last time someone had cast that spell on her. She tried not to think of days of rest, of doing nothing but going to the spa, and then arriving at the Bright Queen’s home in bath towels, their wizard’s small smile as he embarrassed Fjord in the city. 

It was unnerving, walking straight through the town of obviously terrified people, knowing that vampires had taken over the city and that there were undead walking around. They walked all the way to the town square, where a huge tree was standing in the center. It was dark and drooping, obviously dead or at least dying. Just like Keyleth said, there were eight bodies swinging from the branches. At closer glance, Beau began to get a better idea of what the fuck they were walking into. 

“It’s us.” Vex said, staring in horror at the tree. She grabbed Vax’s arm. “It’s us up there.” 

She was right. The bodies were dressed and painted to look like everyone in the group except for Beau, and she noticed one unfamiliar figure. It was painted all red with large, billowing clothes.   
She remembered her skin being that color, when Caleb had disguised her as a tiefling. She had caught the way Jester had looked at her, and for a brief second, she had thought that maybe she felt the same. When the look went away along with the disguise, Beau pushed down her useless crush. She shook her head to shake away the thoughts and watched the group around her come to terms with the level of insanity before them.

“Why is the tree dead?” Keyleth asked quietly. “Percy, was it dead before?” 

“No.” He shook his head. “It is the symbol of Pelor for the town. Most of the people here worship him. It’s part of our crest, our history…” His jaw clenched. “They must have done something to it.” 

“Maybe I can fix it.” Keyleth said. 

“Don’t get any closer.” Vax grabbed Keyleth’s arm to keep her from stepping forward, and then dropped it quickly. “We don’t want to be suspicious.” 

“Maybe you can check it out a different way.” Percy looked around. 

They looked around for an abandoned place near the tree to use as a home base for the time being. They found a tavern, and Beau watched with wide eyes as Keyleth somehow made a tunnel underneath the basement right to the base of the tree. 

“Druids, right?” Scanlan said as they both watched. 

“I’ve never met one before.” Beau crossed her arms. “They’re all about nature and shit, right?” 

She heard a snort behind her. Beau turned and saw Vex leaning against her large bear and looking at her with disdain. “Yeah. Nature and shit.” She rolled her eyes and turned to whisper something to her brother. 

Beau turned back around and tried very hard not to say something she would regret later. She had already seen a little bit of what this group could do, and she really didn’t want to start her first day with them off by being introduced to the blunt end of Grog’s war hammer. 

Beau took a seat on the other side of the tunnel and listened as they discussed what to do next. Percy, Scanlan, and Vax were going out to scout around while Keyleth tried to revive the tree in a ritual she needed eight whole fucking hours to do. And it might not even work, Beau thought with an internal eye roll.

“Could I go too?” Beau asked as they were about to leave. She really didn’t feel like being left alone underground with Vex’ahlia and her dumb bear. 

“You’re staying with me.” Grog said, grinning over at her. He took his hammer off his back and started rubbing it lovingly. “Because we don’t trust you yet.” 

“Grog.” Percy said with a sigh. “That’s not exactly what we said.” 

“I get it.” Beau slumped back against the dirty wall. “It’s whatever. Have fun.” She watched as they pulled themselves out of the cellar and out into the cloudy day, still looking like dirty peasants.   
Vex’ahlia didn’t spare her a glance as she walked down the tunnel, probably to check on the druid. Grog laid down with his hammer pressed tightly against his chest, as if it was a soft blanket comforting him. Beau looked at the only other creature in the room. 

The bear was staring at her. Beau frowned disconcertingly, unsure if it would try to eat her or something, and leaned back slightly as it got up and started walking her way. 

“Um, Grog?” Beau called over. “Should I be worried about this bear wanting to eat me?” 

“Nah.” Grog didn’t even open his eyes. “Trinket’s friendly. Unless Vex tells him not to be. He does whatever she says.” 

“Oh, great.” Beau said sarcastically. Because Vex obviously would never tell her bear to do something to harm Beau. 

She tensed her muscles as Trinket drew closer. He stopped right in front of her and leaned forward. His hot breath blew over her face, and she almost went cross eyed trying to keep her gaze on his.   
Beau clenched her fists, ready to bring them up and pop him in the nose, as he leaned even closer. She tensed, before freezing in place as a large and slimy thing ran over her face. Beau looked at him incredulously. 

“Did you just lick me?” She asked him, immediately feeling dumb for talking to a bear. 

He snorted and did it again. 

“Dude.” She ran her arm over her wet face, cracking a smile and pushing his face out of the way as he went in for another go. “Not cool.” 

Trinket flopped down beside her and laid his head in her lap. She held her arms up and looked down at him as he got comfortable, his hot breath now blowing against her legs and his massive, warm body next to hers. “What the fuck.” 

She carefully brought her hands down to his head, running her fingers through his fur. She shook her head as he nuzzled – fucking nuzzled – into her. 

Beau couldn’t deny that the warmth of him was nice in the cold and dank underground tunnel. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. 

Beau must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, voices were speaking loudly in the room.

She opened her eyes to look around and saw that the others were back. Trinket was still lying next to her, but seemed to be awake as well and was looking around the room. 

“We finally defeated the door.” Scanlan was saying to Grog. “No thanks to these two.” He pointed to Percy and Vax. “And we found a dead guy.” 

“Father Reynal.” Percy said. 

“Then we fought a banshee.” Scanlan said. 

“We found out that there is a man named Sir Kerrion who we should look out for.” Percy said. “And they are taking everything from the people here. Food, money, everything.” His face darkened. 

“She’s done.” Vex’ahlia walked into the room. She glanced around and her eyes landed on Trinket curled up next to Beau. She frowned at them both before looking over back at Percy. “I’m not sure if it worked.” 

They all made their way towards down the tunnel to where the tree’s roots could be seen, and saw Keyleth holding her hands out towards the tree. Green spots were starting to sprout on the roots, and plants started blooming around the place where she sat. Her hands glowed for a moment, before a large bright beam of light shot out of her hands towards the tree. They leaped back as the tree suddenly caught fire. Any life that had bloomed was dead again. 

Vex jumped forward and put out the flames with her cloak, while Keyleth let out a cry of dismay. 

They stood in silence as Vex’ahlia beat out the last of the flames as smoke rose up from the still-dead tree. 

“Well, there goes that idea.” Vex’ahlia threw her smoking cloak on the ground. “What now?”

“Something is killing it.” Keyleth said, running her hands over the charred roots. “Did you see how it was working? And then something overpowered my healing.” 

“You sure it wasn’t the fire that did that?” Beau asked. They ignored her. 

“I think the next thing to do is fairly simple.” Percy said. “Kill them all off, one at a time to show the people here that there is someone fighting for them. And we start with Kerrion.” 

They bed down for the night. Beau missed the warmth of Trinket beside her as the night became brutally cold, and she curled up as tightly as she could. Her dreams were filled with the faces of her friends.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some of this is taken directly from the show - i wanted to show Percy's explanation from Beau's point of view and why change a scene that has already been done really well?

The next day they ambushed a mansion. 

It was Sir Kerrion’s, and they snuck in through the basement and killed everyone. 

Beau finally got a good idea of how powerful her new allies are, as Percy started shooting people down covered in smoke and Grog happily tore out a man’s tongue. 

Beau barely gets a few hits in before all the guards are down. She hangs towards the back of the room as Percy starts interrogating the last man, smoke still pouring out of his body. 

The man talks about Lady Briarwood, and Beau gets a nagging twinge in the back of her mind. She’s definitely heard that name before. She frowns to herself, barely looking over as they have him mark something on a map and Grog tears out his tongue before sending him on his way. Delilah Briarwood… Beau racks her mind as she follows the others outside, Keyleth going up instead of down in order to burn the de Rolo family crest on the roof before setting the house on fire. 

These people would give Jester a run for her money, Beau thinks before immediately shutting down the thought. She’s going to make it back, she tells herself. Her friends are just a continent away. 

“Has Whitestone been taken over before?” Beau asks Percy as they are walking back into the tavern and down to the cellar. 

“No.” He shook his head. “My family founded the town, and the de Rolo’s have ruled it for over two centuries.” He looked at her curiously. “Why?” 

“It’s nothing.” Beau shook her head violently to try and shake the nagging feeling. “The whole vampire – Whitestone thing sounded vaguely familiar.” 

“Maybe because you’ve been living here for the past few years and just can’t remember any of it because Lady Briarwood took over your mind?” Vex called over from across the room. 

“Is she really still looking for an excuse to kill me?” Beau asked Percy, not bothering to look over at Vex’ahlia. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or not. I mean I usually get strong reactions from women, but…” She looked over at Vex’ahlia and grinned rakishly. “Never this strong.” 

Vex’ahlia slowly raised one of her eyebrows. “It seems you haven’t been meeting the right women, then.” She turned back to Trinket, but Beau could have sworn she saw a slight smirk on her lips before her long curtain of hair covered any view of her face. 

“I think we need to have a conversation.” Vax said once they had all settled down. He was looking at Percy. “You want to explain to us why you were covered in smoke again?” 

“Again?” Beau asked from her place against one of the walls. “How often does that happen?” 

“Too often for comfort.” Vax said. 

“Look,” Percy started. “I – I don’t really know where to start.” 

“Try the beginning, darling.” Vex said. 

“I had a dream.” Percy started. “About a year after the Briarwoods killed my family. There was this entity who asked if I wanted revenge.” He paused. “He said he could give it to me. Of course, I said yes.” 

“And did he want anything in return?” Scanlan asked. “That’s usually how things go with strange entities.” 

“He wanted the souls of those I killed.” Percy answered. 

“Percy.” Vex sighed. 

“I woke up the next morning with the idea of this.” He held up his gun. “But I had been drawing up designs before, it just all… clicked that day. It was just a dream.” 

Beau frowned to herself. She didn’t know how popular guns were in Tal’Dorei, but she assumed that they had made their way over the ocean and were at least sparsely used. Percy wouldn’t have had to invent anything, he could have just bought one. Maybe it’s a magical gun, she thought to herself, trying to make out any arcane runes from across the room. 

“If it was just a dream,” Vax asked. “Where does all that smoke come from again?” 

Percy sighed and looked at his gun. “I don’t know if any of you have ever noticed, but there are names on this.” He held it up and pointed to the barrel. Beau could faintly see a few different markings. “The names of the souls I promised him.” 

“Totally just a dream.” Scanlan said sarcastically. 

“How many names?” Vex asked. 

“Five.” Percy said. He named them off. 

“And who is the sixth barrel for?” She asked. 

Percy doesn’t answer. 

“Percy.” She says, going over and sitting next to him, placing a hand on his arm. “We will not lose you to this.” 

“I knew what I was getting into, to a degree.” Percy was looking at the gun. “I knew that I would hurt people. Maybe people I love. I’ve killed a lot of people on this journey.” He ran his finger over the empty barrel. “It’s a reminder of the path I have chosen. 

“We do not kill senselessly, Percy.” Vax argues. “We have killed beasts, dragons, humans, yes, but only humans that tried to hurt us first. We had a reason.” 

“I have a reason for killing these people too.” Percy looks up at him, his eyes shadowed under his glasses. 

“I’m not arguing that the Briarwoods deserve to live.” Vax says. “But we just cut out a man’s tongue. This sort of violence is  _ not _ us.” 

“I was wondering if we were going to talk about that.” Beau adds. “But I wasn’t sure if that was – uh – normal behavior for you guys.” 

“It’s not.” Vax says flatly, eyeing Percy. 

“Oh, good.” Beau nodded. “That’s honestly kind of a relief.” 

Vex gives her a look that very clearly says that now is not the time. Beau shrugs at her. 

“I don’t feel in control anymore. I don’t trust myself. I don’t expect you all to trust me either.” 

“Are you going to hurt one of us?” Grog asks. 

“No,” Percy says immediately. “I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you.” 

“How would you do that?” Keyleth asks. 

“You all followed me here because of justice.” Percy said. “And friendship. You came for me. I didn’t come for those things. I came for revenge. I want to hurt them." 

“What happens after they’re dead?” Vax asks. “What else is this entity going to ask of you?” 

“I’ve honestly never let myself think that far ahead.” He looks around the room. “But I think you all can save me. Or, if it comes to it… finish me.” 

“If anything happens,” Grog says. “I’ll just pop you on the head and take you to Pike. Bet she could fix you.” 

“That’s actually not a bad plan.” Vex says. 

Everyone sat in silence for a minute, all eyes mostly on Percy. 

“Well, I think that today was a success.” Scanlan said. “What are we going to do tomorrow?” 

“There’s this shop I want to visit.” Percy says. “I knew the owner. And it will be interesting to see how the town’s people react to what we’ve started today.” 

Beau closed her eyes as they started talking more about what they hoped to do tomorrow. She let her thoughts wander to what her friends might be doing. Probably going insane, she thought. Caleb would have had to admit what he had done by now. It was a relief that the others seemed too preoccupied with Percy and the town to start asking her questions. She knew it wouldn’t last, though. 

She eventually laid down on the cold ground and tried to get some sleep. 

Yelling woke her in the dead of night. 

Beau jumped up in a defense position, blinking the sleep out of her eyes as she looked quickly around the room. There was a layer of mist along the ground, and she shivered in the freezing air. 

She saw three humanoid looking creatures, baring their fangs at the group. One was in front of Grog, the other attacking Vax, and the other moving quickly towards Vex and the rest of the group. 

“Fucking vampires.” She muttered under her breath before lunging at the one not engaged with anyone yet. 

She heard hisses and groans from the others as she gets a few hits on the one in front of her. A flaming arrow hissed by her ear, aiming straight for the vampire’s heart, but it caught the arrow before it could pierce. The vampire’s mouth was open and dripping with saliva, and Beau dodged out of the way of a bite just in time. 

Beau glanced over to see Grog roaring as he swung his hammer at the vampire in front of him, sending it flying back into the wall. The other had moved past Vax and was biting into Percy. 

Beau dodged around the vampire in front of her, swinging and kicking its legs out from underneath it as she passed, and tackled the vampire currently sucking the life out of Percy. She knocked it back to the ground and leaned her head back as it tried to snap up at her. Beau punched it right in the nose once, twice, and then on the third it went limp underneath her. 

She looked up and saw Scanlan pointing a wand out, sending missiles at the other two. She did a double take when she realized he was also peeing against the wall. Vax rammed two of his daggers into the one Beau had left behind, Grog slammed his hammer into the other, and Vex got off two good shots to both of them.

Movement beneath her makes Beau look down. The vampire had woken up, the wounds in his face mending themselves and his mouth going for Beau’s nearest arm. She reared back and hit him quickly with four punches. He slumped down underneath her. “Guys, how are we supposed to kill these things again?” She called out, making sure not to move her gaze away from it again. 

Keyleth suddenly yells out, “Shield your eyes!” And Beau looks away just in time not to have her eyes melt out of her head as the sunbeam coming out of Keyleth disintegrated the vampires in the room. 

Beau slumped back against the wall, away from the dead vampire she was on top of. 

“That was some bad fog.” Grog said. 

“Where did they come from?” Percy asked, holding the wound in his neck with one hand and pulling out a healing potion with the other. 

“The fog.” Grog said. 

“We should find a new place to stay.” Vax said. “They might have come from the tree. Keyleth said something is corrupting it, maybe vampires are being spawned from it, or something.” 

“We can’t just waltz around town in the middle of the night.” Scanlan argued. 

“Keyleth, can you build a tunnel we could walk through until we find a new place?” Vax looked over at her.

“I’m all out of those types of spells.” Keyleth shrugged. 

“Here’s an idea.” Percy said. “Keyleth, can you wall up the tunnel to the tree?” 

“Yeah.” She nodded. 

“Perfect.” He said. “We wall up the tunnel, and we sleep in the cellar. We take watches all night, but we all get a full night’s sleep. We need it.” 

They all agreed, and Vax and Keyleth offered to take first watch. Beau saw Vex’s face twist in displeasure at their offer. She had noticed once or twice the way that Vex looked at her brother and the druid. Beau huffed a laugh at Vex's obvious disdain and raised an eyebrow when Vex’s eyes flickered to her own. 

Vex just looked away and went to curl up next to Trinket, eyeballing her twin the whole while. 


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Whitestone was just as creepy as it was before. Beau got a glimpse of one of the larger zombies that roamed the city and she almost lost the meager breakfast they had eaten before they left the cellar. It reminded her of the Laughing Hand. 

They made their way to the store Percy had wanted to visit. Vax and Scanlan scampered away from the group to talk to the townspeople about their new rebellion. 

Beau kept to the edges of the room and watched as Percy and the rest of them tried to convince the small teenage girl behind the counter to give them refuge. Beau learned that Percy had a terribly long name - one she had only caught the first and last bit of - and it jogged her memory again. She frowned at the wall as she tried to remember what she had read that made all of this so familiar. Percy’s name was familiar. Whitestone being overtaken by vampires was familiar. But where had she read it? As they made their way out of the shop, she walked behind them and tried to remember. 

They meet up in a temple and Beau finally starts paying attention to her surroundings as the man speaking in front of her starts talking about the evils of Whitestone. 

“We have been victims of this evil for too long.” The older man was saying in front of a large crowd. Beau and the rest of them were near the back. “But a new era is coming. There is hope among us, and a new ally has rid us of Sir Kerrion. I believe it is time to band together as we bring Whitestone back to its former glory.” There were murmurings in the crowd. “But work in the shadows, my friends. Be ready to come together and defeat this evil once and for all.” 

He prays in celestial before the crowd disperses. Beau watches as the man steps forward and notices them standing there. He tilts his head before turning and walking away. 

They follow him to the back of the temple, to a dim room with a small table and chairs. 

“I’ve never seen all of you before.” He says as he sits down slowly. 

Percy steps forward and says a few things in celestial. Beau rolls her eyes at his dramatics, but it seems to work, as the man’s eyes widen and he bids them all to come closer. 

“I had heard rumors, but… I had dared not hope.” He whispered. “Thank you for coming back.” 

“I wish I could have done so sooner.” Percy said. “Now, tell me what you know.” 

The man - Keeper Yennon - tells them that people are wary of another revolution. It had been tried before, but everyone was killed before it had even started. He mentions an informant that he has in the castle, but who has been silent for weeks. Beau tunes most of it out, but something catches her attention. He mentions something under the city - a ziggurat - that the Briarwoods have been recovering. 

That is something she remembers. 

Beau had read about a ziggurat in Whitestone, and she suddenly remembers its significance. The ziggurats were used to raise Vecna, the Undying King. He had risen twenty years ago in Tal’Dorei. 

Beau snaps back into reality as she hears the newer man who entered the room a few moments before say they have two de Rolos helping the town now. Percy looked like someone just punched him in the face. 

“Your sister lives, Percy.” The man said. “She’s been serving the Briarwoods in the castle ever since your family was attacked. They made her their slave. She’s been giving us information from the inside.” 

Percy is quiet for a few moments. He eventually shook his head. “We still have to focus on getting the people to rally with us. Who should be our next strike?” 

“Count Tylieri.” Keeper Yennon said. “He’s a cruel, sadistic man. His death would send a message both to the people and to the Briarwoods.” 

“We’ll need some sort of distraction.” Percy said. 

“I can draw the de Rolo crest in the clouds!” Keyleth offers. 

“I think I can handle a distraction.” Scanlan grins.” 

“And the rest of us will attack.” Percy nods and looks at them all. “There’s no time like the present.” 

Scanlan ran off as the rest of the group made their way to Count Tylieri’s house. Beau caught up to Keyleth as they made their way through the streets. 

“Keyleth?” Beau said quietly. 

“Yeah?” Keyleth had large green eyes that radiated kindness. Beau found it kind of disconcerting. “Oh, hi Beau.” She gave her a small smile. “Sorry, I know that it’s been a little crazy since you met us. When things calm down, hopefully we can get to know you a little better.” 

Beau blinked a few times. “Oh, right, uh, it’s no problem.” She shook her head to clear it. “I actually had a question for you.” She glanced up to Percy, who was leading the group. “Could you explain how the Briarwoods took over Whitestone? I’ve been able to piece it together by what I’ve heard, but I wanted to get the whole story.” 

“Oh, sure.” Keyleth nodded, looking suddenly very serious. “When Percy was a teenager, the Briarwoods came to visit the castle. The de Rolos offered them a place to stay, but…” Keyleth trailed off. “The Briarwoods had come to kill all of them. They were posing as some sort of diplomats from Wildemount, I think. And they had decided that they needed Whitestone, maybe for this ziggurat thing that Keeper Yennon mentioned? So, they killed Percy’s whole family, except his sister it turns out. He got away and was on the run for a while before he found us.” 

“That’s some fucked up family history.” Beau said. “I’d want revenge too, if I was him. I don’t think I could have waited this long.” 

“I think he’s been preparing himself, in his own way.” Keyleth said. “If you want to know anything else, you should probably ask Percy. We all just found out about all of this recently anyway.” 

“Thanks.” Beau nodded. They got quiet as they reached the mansion that they were heading for and hid in the shadows of a nearby building. 

“Two guards in the front.” Vax says softly. “I can take one out.” 

“I’ve got the other.” Vex says, pulling out an arrow. 

Percy put his hand up to his ear. “Alright, Scanlan. Go.” 

Beau looked in confusion to Keyleth, who pointed to an earring she had in her ear. “Enchanted.” 

When Beau turned back around, the two guards up from were slumped to the ground, one with an arrow sticking out of him. She watched as Vex smirked and nodded to her brother and then looked back at them all. They locked gazes for a second, and Beau felt a bout of gay panic. That was fucking _hot_. 

“Me and trinket will go in the front.” Grog said, jarring Beau out of her lust-induced stupor. 

“Me too!” Beau piped up. All eyes turned to her. She shrugged. “What?” 

“No, that’s a good idea.” Percy nodded. “And the rest of us will sneak around back. Keyleth are you ready with the clouds?” 

Keyleth nodded. 

“Alright.” Percy looked at the rest of them. “Ready?” 

Grog grinned at Beau and hefted up his hammer. “Oh, I’m ready.” 

Beau followed Grog and Trinket as Grog burst through the front door with a roar. She skidded to a stop behind him and looked up at ten crossbows aimed down at them. 

“Loose!” A man’s voice cries from the top of the staircase. Beau gets one look at an older guy with oily black hair before she’s dodging away from the bolts coming after her. She managed to catch one, and used its momentum to swing around and throw it back at the guard. It lodged itself right in his throat, and his hands came up to cradle his neck before he toppled off of the balcony and onto the floor in front of Grog. 

“Nice.” Grog grinned back at her, bolts sticking out of his body. Trinket roared up at the guards. 

“Well, I thought there’d be more of you.” The man, who must be Count Tylieri, said from above. 

“Well,” Grog said. “I didn’t expect to come in here and see a bunch of dead men.” He grinned before lighting up his war hammer and bounding up the staircase. Beau followed, barely a second behind. 

What followed was less than a minute of spending half of her energy avoiding getting shot anywhere vital and the other half throwing guards off of the balcony after beating them to shit. Tylieri was definitely a vampire, Beau decided after seeing him climb the walls and try and bite her a few times.

At one point, Tylieri had come up behind Grog and was almost about to take a bite into before Beau smacked the back of his head with her stick.  He turned to her, his fangs gleaming, and lunged for her neck. A shot blasted through the air and Tylieri jerked forward. His hand came up to touch the smoking hole in his chest. 

Beau looked down and saw Percy, smoke covering him once again, with his gun up and aimed at Tylieri. The vampire roared and tried to move down to Percy, but Beau landed a kick right in the kneecap, causing him to stumble to a stop. She knew he wouldn’t be able to move for a few seconds. 

The others started arriving one by one. Vax took out a guard with one strike of his dagger. Keyleth put up a wall of wind. Vex ran in and rained down arrows on the guards. 

Beau hit one man to her left with an uppercut and ducked down in a spin to take the knees out of another one. She glanced up and barely had a second to make a decision before she was jumping from her crouched position and catching the guard coming for her with a sword inches from her throat. She grabbed the front of his armor and flung them both backwards off the banister. 

Beau let him go and flipped in midair, landing silently on the balls of her feet. The guard, on the other hand, splat against the hardwood and didn’t move again. 

She glanced up and saw Trinket clawing at three different guards. He suddenly roared as one of them sunk his sword deep into Trinket’s flank. Beau jumped forward and cracked her stick against the man’s head, not even stopping to watch him fall before coming up with a kick to the next one’s head. She watched with satisfaction as he dropped to one knee, before she punched him in the face. Beau looked up to see Trinket biting the other one almost in half. 

“Nice one.” She patted Trinket on the shoulder. He nudged her with his big head. 

Beau heard a thump behind and her spun to see a man on the floor with an arrow sticking out of his back. She glanced up and saw Vex up on the banister, staring down at her with an interesting expression. Vex nodded at her before spinning to shoot another one. 

Quickly after that, Tylieri was nothing but mist caught in Keyelth’s wind and all of the guards but one were dead. 

Keyleth shot a streak of light out of her hands at the vampire mist and it evaporated with a screeching cry. 

The one guard left was on the bottom floor, trying to crawl away from them all. Grog was standing above him with a bloody grin on his face. 

“I’ll make your death real slow and painful if you don’t tell us what we want to know.” Grog said. 

“Please, I don’t -.” 

Vax kneels down and tosses one of his daggers in his hand. “Where are the Briarwoods?” 

“The castle.” The guard gasps. “Or, under it. They’re always doing something down there - a project.” 

“Is there anyone else in this house?” 

“No.” He shakes his head. “We were waiting for you.” 

“What are the Briarwoods doing underneath the castle?” Vax asked. 

“I don’t know!” The guard moans. “I’m just part of the watch.” 

“How did they know we were coming?” Vex asks. “Those bodies in the sun tree were a message for us.” 

“They knew you were coming. I don’t know how.” He shook his head. “We were just ordered to find some people and make them look like you.” 

“One of them was a child. Maybe more than one.” Vax leaned down. “Was that part of the job too? Killing children?” 

The guard was silent. 

Vax slit his throat with one swift movement. 

“Let’s search the house.” Percy said. “He could have been lying about there not being anybody else. And we might find something useful.” 

The others dispersed in different directions. Beau was about to follow when she noticed Vex kneeling near Trinket. 

“Is he alright?” Beau asked as she got closer. Trinket moved his head and she put her hand on his nose, scratching lightly. 

Vex made a noncommittal noise before her hands suddenly started glowing. The wounds on his back disappeared. 

“I, uh, didn’t know you could do that.” Beau said after she realized she was staring, open mouthed. 

“It’s useful.” Vex stood up. She glanced at Beau briefly before turning to run her hands through Trinket’s fur. “Thank you for protecting him.” 

“Yeah.” Beau scratched her head. “He’s part of the team, right?” 

Vex looked at her, puzzled for a moment. 

“Anyway.” Beau felt her cheeks start to warm with how much the half-elf was staring at her, so she turned away. “I’d better help the others, I guess.” 

Beau quickly left the room and started making her way through the house. “Stupid, useless lesbian.” She shook her head at herself and groaned. Eventually she found an office and started looking through the documents to try and get her mind off of her hopelessness. 

“Find anything?” Percy asked as he came in the door. His white-blonde hair was grimy with mud and blood. 

“They stopped trade months ago.” She said, handing him a document. “They’re hoarding the whitestone for themselves. What would they need it for?” 

“Residuum is made out of refined whitestone.” Percy said, looking over the papers. “It’s used to enchant things. It can be very powerful.”

Beau sees a picture of Caleb in her mind, wrapped arms hiding scars. “It can’t be good that they’re planning on using so much of it.” 

“No, it can’t be good at all.” 

They left the house not long after that. They could hear townspeople rallying together outside. Keyleth sent a sphere of flame into the house and they crept away, back to the shop. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's another chapter! sorry that it's so combat-heavy right now, it's just the nature of where they are in the story. hopefully Beau will be able to have some more personal time with Vox Machina soon. thanks for all of the comments! i really appreciate them so much

The rebellion was in full swing. Townspeople were attacking the zombie giants with makeshift weapons and screams of retribution. They heard the crashing of buildings and more than a few they passed were on fire. 

They made it to the shop they were using as a base and made their way to the back room the girl had shown them before. 

“We have to help them.” Vex said as they all caught their breath. 

“We’re beat to shit.” Vax said. “We need rest.” 

“So, we start a rebellion and then let them fend for themselves?” Vex shook her head. “They’ll die.” 

“I’m with her.” Beau said. Vex looked over in surprise. Beau shrugged and tried not to look at her. “They don’t know how to fight. They’ll die within the hour.” 

“Let’s just sit down for a moment.” Percy sighed and slid down a wall. “And then we’ll go.” 

Beau was jittery as they ate some food and drank some healing potions. Her knee bounced constantly and her senses were on full alert - waiting for something to come crashing through the door. 

There was suddenly a loud bang, and Beau shot up and out of the door before the others. She ran through the shop and stared at a zombie giant that had just fallen in front of the shop. Three townspeople were still stabbing it with what looked like farming tools. They cried out in victory and then moved off towards more sounds of battle in the distance. 

“Let’s go.” Percy said. Beau turned and noticed they had all followed her out. They stepped out into the street and started moving towards the sounds. The sun sank under the horizon as they ran through the town. 

They ran towards the sun tree, and came out into the main square. There was a giant surrounded by eight people. The giant slammed its fist down and crushed two of them. One of the people jumped up and stabbed it in the back. The giant roared and turned. It’s large mouth opened wide and it bit down on the man, tearing him in half.

“Look!” Keyleth said in horror, pointing to the North. A large black mass was moving in their direction. Skeletal bodies come into the dim light in the square. 

“High ground!” Vex cried before sprinting towards the sun tree. They followed as Keyleth and Vex both climbed up into the branches of the tree. Beau stood at the base of it with Grog, Vax, Percy, and Scanlan. 

Keyleth sent out a burst of ice energy and thirty of the skeletons in front of them disintegrated. The giant across the square tore through the remaining people around it and turned to face the tree. 

Grog stepped forward and started slashing through skeletons as they got closer, and Beau jumped in beside him. It was pure chaos, with bones surrounding her on all sides and a terrible shrieking noise overriding anything she would have heard from the party around her. 

Beau turned just in time to see a skeleton lunge towards her, teeth first, but it’s head was blown apart by an arrow before it could bite her. A large hand grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back. Beau started running with the figure who was dragging her. They made their way through the square, sounds of gunfire and screams echoing across the stone. Grog stopped and clapped her once on the shoulder. She looked up at him and nodded, a look of understanding passing between them. 

The rest caught up to them and they kept running away from the tide of bone rushing through town. 

A few blocks away from the treeline, Keeper Yennon found them. Him and a group of about a dozen townspeople were armed and running towards them. “Help them!” He cried out and the townspeople ran towards the skeletal army. 

“Wait!” Keyleth cried out. She turned back towards where the people were now fighting with the skeletons. “We have to help.” 

“Keyleth!” Vax exclaimed as she lurched out of his grip and moved back towards the fight. 

Beau didn’t think twice before running after her. Keyleth stopped to prepare a spell, but Beau kept running. She made it beside one of the townspeople and dropped one of the skeletons with a kick to the head. 

“One at a time!” She said to the man beside her. He nodded, his eyes slightly frantic, and turned back to the hoard. 

Beau heard the others join, and soon she was lost in a fray of bones, muscle memory aiding her as she dove and punched and kicked. Skeleton after skeleton fell under her hands. 

A jolt of energy came down at some point, and she turned to notice a small gnome doused in radiant energy. Grog called out, “Pike!” And the others all voiced their happiness as she landed in the middle of things. She noticed that a lot of her new allies were on top of a stone wall in the middle of the street that definitely wasn’t there before. 

Suddenly, a shockwave of energy came off of the little gnome, and the skeletons around Beau crumpled to the ground. 

All of the skeletons crumpled, except maybe twenty near the back of the hoard. Beau jumps to action and moves towards the remaining ones. With the help of everyone else, they were soon nothing but crumpled bones. 

Beau wiped the sweat out of her eyes as the others converged around the gnome. 

“Pike!” Vex tried to hug her, but just passed through, as if she was an illusion. “What -?” 

“Don’t worry!” Pike said with a smile. “I’m here through Serenrae’s help. She told me you all were in danger and sent me here. I’m still technically in Vasselheim.” 

“How long are you here for?” Vax asked, kneeling down next to her. 

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. 

They are interrupted by the roar of two separate zombie giants that they could hear in two different directions. 

“Well, it looks like you guys are having a great time.” Pike looks around at them all. “I’d like to help while I’m here.” 

“Then let’s keep fighting.” Percy nods. “Half of us will take the giant to the south, the other will take the one farther east.” 

Beau followed Grog, Scanlan, and Pike to the South. 

They reach the giant that looked untouched, with townspeople surrounding it on all sides. 

Beau jumped to action alongside the others. She learned that the little gnome was a force to be reckoned with as Pike shot bolts of divine energy at the giant. Beau was reminded of Jester a few times, but shook those thoughts away as she ducked under the large fists of the giant. 

They made quick work of the giant, but not without getting hit more than a few times. Grog and Beau took the brunt of the hits, as they both weaved around the giant as Pike and Scanlan shot him with magic from afar. 

As the giant was on its last legs, Pike jumped up with her bright wings spread out, and brought her mace down on the giant’s head. Divine light shone from where she hit, and the giant started crumbling to ash from top to bottom. Pike landed next to Beau and looked on with satisfaction as the giant turned to ash. She looked over at Grog and Scanlan. 

“That was -.” Scanlan croaked out, before fainting face first on the ground. 

“Hi.” Pike looked to Beau. “I’m Pike. I don’t think we’ve met before.” 

“Hey.” Beau nodded to the pile of ash. “That was dope.” 

“Thanks.” She smiled. 

“Yeah, that’s my monster.” Grog pulled Pike on his shoulders. 

Beau walked over and slung Scanlan across her shoulders. “Let’s go meet the others.” 

They go to the west wall and hunkered down quietly. Beau watched the faint shadows of townspeople banding together, most of the fighting done for the night. They didn’t have to wait long for the others to get back, blood splattered but intact. 

“How did it go?” Pike asked, reaching forward and running her hands over the worst of the wounds on Vax. Beau watched as divine light shone out of her hands, stitching the cuts back together. 

“Thanks, Pickle.” He smiled at her. 

“It was difficult, but we’re here.” Percy said grimly. “I told some of the townspeople to rally at dawn. That’s when they will strike.” 

“And what do we do?” Beau asked. 

“Infiltrate the castle.” Percy said. “I know of a secret entrance on the west side. It’s the way that I escaped last time I was here.” 

“Lead the way.” Vex said. 

They made their way into the forests outside Whitestone, moving northwest. They walked through the dark forest for less than an hour before Percy stopped them. Beau could see the tops of the castle above the treeline ahead. 

“It should be around here somewhere.” 

They searched, but couldn’t find anything. 

“Are you sure this is where it was?” Vex asked. 

“Yes.” Percy frowned, looking around. “I think…” 

Beau walked over to a pile of rocks. She moved one of them with her foot and examined the way the earth was positioned around it. 

She jumped as she heard a voice next to her ear. “This looks a little strange, doesn’t it?” 

She turned and saw Vax standing behind her. “Warn a girl next time, man.” 

“What?” He looked confused. 

“You’re fucking quiet and creepy.” She turned back to the rocks. “But yeah, this looks weird.” 

Vax called Grog over to try and move the rocks. They spent a few minutes working together and eventually a small opening was revealed. 

“This is it.” Percy said, stepping forward. 

“Well, after you.” Beau waved her hand. 

It was pitch black inside the tunnel as they moved forward. Pike’s radiant form gave off a faint light and Beau tried to walk close to the little gnome. 

“We can rest here.” Percy says after they’ve walked for a few minutes. “I don’t want to go any farther until we’ve got our strength back.” 

“Is it safe?” Keyleth asked, staring around warily. 

“Probably not.” Percy sighed as he sank down to the ground. 

“I’ll go scout ahead.” Vax said before he disappeared into the shadows. 

Beau sat down and leaned her head against the wall. The aches and pains from the night were catching up to her now that her adrenaline had worn off. Her knuckles were sticky with dried blood and her whole body ached. 

“So, how did you meet my friends?” A soft voice piped up from next to her. 

Beau opened her eyes to see Pike sitting down to her right. “They found me in the woods.” 

“Why were you in the woods?” She frowned. 

“I got lost.” Beau decided to stick with the same story. “I don’t know how I got here. I’m from Wildemount and I’d really like to get back to my friends. Percy offered to help me do that if I helped you guys out.” 

“That must be really scary.” Pike laid a hand on Beau’s arm. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to end up on another continent without anyone I knew.” 

“Yeah.” Beau cleared her throat. “It’s not, um, something I would recommend.” 

“I’ll help you too, Beau.” Pike said earnestly. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you get back home.” 

“Thanks.” Beau said, completely disarmed by the sincere words of this stranger. 

“How did it happen? Are you some sort of magic user?” 

“Oh no.” Beau shook her head. “My friend is, though. He was trying to do some new ritual… he was trying to send himself somewhere. I guess he miscalculated and sent me instead.” 

“That’s really hard.” Pike said. “But I’m glad my friends found you. Honestly, we’re very good at helping people, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get you sorted out.” 

“That’s good to hear.” Beau sighed. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. “I’m gonna try and get some rest now.” 

“Of course!” Pike patted her on the head after she stood up, and then went to sit next to Vex and Vax. 

Beau sat up a little straighter and took some deep breaths to start meditating. Her mind felt like mush after all that she had tagged along for with the people around her. She felt the familiar waves of calm wash over her after she spent a few minutes like this, and opened her eyes after she felt centered. 

Vex was staring at her from across the tunnel. Beau caught her gaze and held it as she continued to breathe deeply. Dairon had always told her that the meditation should continue even after you open your eyes. Now if she could meditate and lock eyes with a gorgeous woman, Beau will have mastered the art. Beau lasted three seconds before she looked away as she moved to lay down. 

Beau could still feel the burn of someone staring at her as she laid down on the hard tunnel floor, but she pushed it out of her mind. The faces of her friends flashed through her mind. She spent time thinking about each one of them before letting the thoughts of her friends carry her to sleep. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really appreciate all the comments! Thanks for the interest - I honestly wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in this pairing. Glad to see some of you are! And some of you were waiting for Beau to finally figure it out... hope it doesn't disappoint. 
> 
> Also, just wanted to remind you guys that I'm not exactly sticking to canon for everything. I've changed things about how they meet Cassandra and basically changed the whole Ripley thing completely.

They woke up hours later and set off down the tunnel. 

It went on so long that Beau began to think that they were passing underneath the castle instead of walking towards it, but eventually they came to a door. Vax moved forward silently and unlocked it so quickly Beau thinks Nott would be impressed. 

Percy led them up into the castle. 

They’d all been quiet since they woke up. There was a solemn energy surrounding them, taut with anticipation of the dangers that awaited them that day. 

The castle was empty as they walked up a staircase and came to the main floor. Their footsteps and breaths the only sounds. 

“I think we should go upstairs.” Percy whispered. “If my sister is here somewhere, I’d rather find her before we find the Briarwoods.” 

They saw no one as they went up the stairs. As they reached the landing, Percy crept forward. Beau moved to follow, when whispering to her left caused her to turn and look. 

Vax and Vex were huddled close, and it looked like they were in a hushed argument. Vax was holding a cloak out - the one he had been wearing - and eventually Vex put her arms down so he could wrap it around her. They shared a look as he clasped the cloak closed and pulled the hood up over her head. 

Beau turned as Percy started opening one of the doors, gun out in front of him. Grog was on the other side of the door, ready to strike in case something happened. 

“Cassandra?” Percy said, before disappearing into the room. 

Beau frowned and moved forward to look inside. 

Percy had stepped forward. His gun was still pointed at the other figure in the room. It was a woman, probably slightly younger than Percy, who had the same shock of white hair. She was looking at him in shock. 

“Percy?” She moved forward. 

“What did you get me for my tenth birthday?” Percy held the gun straighter. 

She paused. “Your first tinkering kit.” 

He let out a breath, put the gun down, and rushed forward to embrace her. “I can’t believe you’re alive.” 

Beau looked back at the others. Pike looked like she was going back and forth between happiness and concern, while the others had various expressions of distrust on their faces. 

“This look too good to be true to anyone else?” Beau whispered. 

Vex nodded shortly, “It was too easy.” 

“Do you think she’s working for them?” Keyleth whispered. 

“Probably.” Scanlan scowled at the two siblings who were talking quietly in the room now. “She’s gonna stab him in the back.” 

“We won’t let her.” Vex said quietly.

“These are my friends.” Percy said, gesturing for them all to come in. “We’re here to take care of the Briarwoods. Do you know where they are?” 

“Probably down with the ziggurat.” Cassandra said, looking at them all with wide eyes. “I can show you.” 

Vax moved into the room and moved one of the curtains hanging in front of the window. “The people have started.” He nodded his head outside. 

Beau moved forward to look. She could hear distant sounds of yelling and crashing. Smoke curled up into the sky in the direction of the town. 

“Then it's time.” Percy said. “Lead the way, sister.” 

Cassandra led them down through the castle, all the way down to the mausoleum. 

“What can you tell us about the Briarwoods, Cassandra?” 

Cassandra started stuttering through an explanation to Percy.  Trinket came over to Beau and knocked his head against her shoulder. She gave his back a good scratch as they walked. She felt that burning gaze in the back of her head again. 

They moved down into the creepy and silent mausoleum. Marble tomes lined the walls, but they didn’t give any of the statues a second look as they crept forward. The room ended and they moved through an open section of the wall that became a tunnel, and it was clear they were leaving castle Whitestone far behind. 

The tunnel continued on until they reached a bronze door. Cassandra opened it and they followed her through. 

Beau had a horrible feeling in her gut as she stepped through the doorway. She should have listened to it. 

The Briarwoods were waiting for them. 

As soon as Scanlan had stepped through, the door behind them slammed shut and Cassandra jumped forward just in time for a glass wall to come between her and Percy. She looked back at him. “I’m sorry, Percy.” 

“What?” Percy stepped forward, his hand moving towards his gun. 

“Thank you, Cassandra.” A honeyed voice said from the open doorway ahead of them. A woman stepped forward, her illustrious robes billowing behind her. A pale man followed her, his hand on the hilt of a dark blade. His fangs glinted as he smiled. 

“It’s wonderful to see you again, Percival.” Lady Briarwood said. “I hope you’ll forgive the lack of hospitality, dear. We simply didn’t have much time to prepare for your arrival.” 

“I think you’ll find your accommodations suitable.” Silas said. He put a hand on Lady Briarwood’s back and moved them back through the doorway. “But if you’ll excuse us, we have some pressing matters to attend to.” 

“Come, Cassandra.” Lady Briarwood said as she walked away. 

With one last look at her brother, Cassandra followed. 

As soon as the door closed behind them, smoke started coming out of small pipes in the walls. 

“What the fuck?” Beau quickly unwrapped her sash and wrapped it around her lower face, covering her nose and mouth. She moved to one of the pipes and tried to stuff some cloth into it.

“Any ideas, guys?” Keyleth asked, looking around wildly. 

Vax suddenly disappeared with a flash of light and reappeared on the other side of the glass. He started looking around the other side of the room. 

“Oh, good idea.” Scanlan said. He disappeared and reappeared in a similar fashion. 

Beau and the rest of them were starting to cough from the fumes. She could feel the burning in her lungs as whatever was in the air entered her body. 

Grog started banging his axe against the glass wall. He bounced off once, twice, and the third time fell flat on his face as the wall disappeared. 

“Found it!” Scanlan said, his hand on a button. 

Grog lifted his head and gave a thumbs up. They all stumbled out of the glass cage and breathed in fresher air. 

"Come on." Percy growled, holding his gun tightly as he almost ran in the direction his sister went. 

In the ensuing fight, Beau learned a lesson she never forgot. Vampires fight dirty. 

Silas was a menace - swinging around the dark sword and biting at anyone who got too close. Which Beau did, repeatedly. 

She left Lady Briarwood to the others and focused all of her energy on him, dodging as much as she could but ended up getting more than a few gashes across her body from his damn sword. It almost felt like the thing was sucking out her energy every time it slashed across her skin. Her feet were stumbling towards the end. 

But Grog and her managed to take care of him eventually as they fought in the large cavernous room they had followed the Briarwoods into. Beau got glimpses of the large pyramid-like structure that must be the ziggurat as she danced around Silas’ blade. 

Eventually, Silas was nothing but mist that Keyleth burned away with her sunbeam. Beau turned around to see the others standing around, looking worse for wear, and Percy with a gun to Lady Briarwood. 

“Percy, dear.” She sneered at him. “You will live to regret this.” 

“My name is Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III.” Percy said, pointing his gun at Delilah’s head. “And your soul is mine.” 

When the gunshot went off, it clicked in Beau’s head. She remembered where she had heard of the Briarwoods. She remembered why Percy’s last name sounded vaguely familiar, and she remembered having read about Whitestone and it being taken over by vampires. 

As they walked back through the underground chambers, Beau hung towards the back of the group. She had caught her hand in Trinket’s fur right after Percy had killed Lady Briarwood, and she hadn’t let go. They were both following the group, Beau relying on Trinket to lead her as her mind raced. 

It had actually worked. She couldn’t believe it. Caleb had actually managed to send someone back in time. Only it wasn’t the right person. She kicked a stray stone near her foot and flinched at the sharp clang it made against the wall. She leaned further into Trinket and looked at the ground, avoiding any gazes that might be shooting back at her. 

Percy threw Lady Briarwood into an acid pit and they moved back up into the main castle. 

Beau didn’t know how to get back. She clenched her eyes shut as she allowed the thought to cross her mind. Caleb had said he had figured it out, but Beau didn’t know  _ how _ . 

The world started fading as her breaths got quicker and shorter. She might never get back. She might never see them again. 

Real panic started to settle in - the kind she had only ever felt when she was young and hiding from her father, hoping that he wouldn't find her. Beau pushed past the group and ran up the nearest stairwell, ignoring the calls behind her. She ran up and up, regardless of how many black spots started to enter her vision. 

Beau finally reached some sort of balcony, and she leaned against it, gasping for air and gripping it tightly. 

Faintly, she heard some footsteps on the stairwell behind her. Through her panic, she was slightly startled by the sound of a growl by the doorway. Warmth suddenly overcame her as Trinket leaned his head over her and nuzzled her to his chest. Beau reached back and grabbed a handful of his fur.

“Trinket!” Vex said. “What are you doing?” Beau heard some shuffling. “Trinket.” Vex said sternly. “Move.” 

Trinket made a noise that even Beau understood to mean he had no plans on doing that. 

Beau held the railing tightly with her other hand, the cold of the metal seeping into her skin. She tried to slow her breathing, but the panic of never seeing her friends – her  _ family  _ – again kept creeping up her chest, stealing her breath from her lungs. 

“Beau!” Pike called out. “Are you okay? Did they do something to you? Are you hurt?” 

Beau leaned down and put her forehead on the railing. Their faces ran through her mind. Caleb. Jester. Fjord. Yasha. Nott. Caduceus. Molly. A sharp pain cut through her panic for a moment as she fell to her knees. The cold stone underneath seeped through her clothes.

There was some muffled speaking from behind her and then some shuffling.

“Beau.” Vex said again. “I sent Pike back downstairs to tell the others not to worry. It’s just us. And Trinket.” She huffed slightly. 

Beau let go of the railing in front of her and let her shoulders slump, her hands falling limply in her lap. She moved back into Trinket and the bear sat down behind her as well. Beau could see Vex now out of the corner of her eye. She was kneeling next to them. 

Beau put her face in her knees and hugged her legs tightly to her chest. “I just need a minute.” Her voice was rough and it cracked slightly on the words.

“Darling, I think you’re going to need more than that.” Vex sat down and leaned her body against the railing next to her. “Care to tell me why you started panicking back there? Was it Percy? I know he’s been quite frightening lately. We’re going to have a talk with him about his behavior.” 

Beau chewed her lip. After the reality of her situation crashed down on her, she was stuck in a sort of numb acceptance. It’s what the monks tried to drill into her when she felt out of control. What will be, will be. She would change whatever she could, but some circumstances were out of her control. Stay calm, stay calm, deep breaths in, deep breaths out. 

“I realized something.” Beau settled on. 

“Something to do with your home?” Vex asked. “These friends you keep mentioning?” 

“Something like that.” Beau stared at the gardens below. 

“We didn’t lie when we told you that we would help.” 

“I don’t -.” Beau cut herself off. “It’s complicated now. I don’t think you guys can help me.” 

“What do you mean?” Vex asked, confused. 

“It’s not important right now.” Beau shook her head and rubbed her eyes hard with the palms of her hands. “Can I just meet you guys downstairs later?” 

Vex was silent for a moment. “Sure, Beau.” She stood up and looked over her bear. “But I think you’re stuck with Trinket.” 

Beau nodded. She listened to Vex walk out of the room and downstairs. Trinket huffed in her ear. 

“Thanks, Trinket.” Beau said quietly as she reached up to scratch under his chin. She leaned back against him and stared up at the night sky. Warm tears ran down her cheeks and into Trinket’s fur. 

The next thing Beau remembers is waking up with the sun in her eyes. She put a hand up and groaned, sitting up stiffly and looking around. Trinket huffed from where he was laying beside her and moved slightly. He blinked up at her blearily before putting a big paw over his eyes. 

Beau looked down and rubbed her fingers between the blanket she was covered with the night before. She stood up with a groan and stumbled into the castle. 

She found the others down in a dining room with a full course meal laid out in front of them. Beau watched in confusion as random people bustled around, carrying platters of food or dirty dishes. 

“Is this what it was always like for you?” She asked Percy as she sat down heavily in an empty chair. “And I thought I grew up a spoiled rich kid.” 

Percy laughed uncomfortably. “Word has gotten out, it seems. Whatever maids or cooks were left in the employ of the castle heard about our defeat of Delilah and Silas Briarwood and let it be known throughout the town. People have been knocking at the door all day offering to help.” 

“And bringing food.” Grog said with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. “ _ Lots _ of food.” 

Pike was looking at her with concern from across the table. She was still surrounded by that radiant light. She was much more translucent than she was the day before. The magic holding her here was probably fading. Beau just nodded at her unspoken question and started eating some food. Her stomach was still in knots, but she knew she needed to eat something. 

Vax and Vex entered the room a little while later, Trinket following behind. Vex caught her eye briefly and looked her over for a moment. Vex was apparently satisfied with whatever she saw and went back to whispering with her brother. 

Beau tuned in to the conversation that was happening with Percy and Keyleth. 

“I think we should call Allura.” Keyleth was saying. “If anyone could figure out what this ziggurat is, it’s her.” 

“It was so creepy.” Scanlan said. “All of those paintings of dead bodies? I consider myself a connoisseur of good art, and that, my friends, was not anything that belongs on a wall.” 

“It was quite morbid.” Percy leaned back in his seat. “They were trying to complete some sort of ritual, obviously. And they might have completed it. That black hole certainly leads me to believe that they were successful.” 

“Delilah acted as if she was expecting something different to happen.” Vex said from across the table. “You would think that she would know if the ritual had succeeded or not.” 

“We don’t have any idea what she was trying to do, though.” Percy said. “Perhaps she didn’t either.” 

“That’s why we need Allura here.” Keyleth said. “After it almost sucked me in… I don't want to go anywhere near it.” 

Beau pushed around some chicken on her plate and bit the inside of her cheek. She must have missed them exploring the ziggurat - maybe they had done that while she was having a mental breakdown over her accidental time-travel. She rolled her eyes at herself. Beau knew exactly what sort of ritual the Briarwoods were trying to accomplish. And she knew it had been successful, Delilah just hadn’t realized it. Vecna was one step closer to coming onto their plane of existence as a god. 

She put down her fork and placed her head in her hand. What could she tell them? Even she knew that she could seriously fuck shit up by opening her mouth and spilling information about the future. She had read speculative readings about the delicacy of time and how it was a very good thing that people could not travel through it. _Damn you, Caleb,_ she thought as she pinched the bridge of her nose to try and get rid of the headache she felt coming on. How the hell was she supposed to navigate this? 

“Beau?” Pike called her name.

Beau opened her eyes and looked over. Everyone at the table was looking at her. “What?” She huffed. 

“Are you alright?” Pike asked. “You kind of ran off last night after the fight, and… well, you didn’t seem alright.” 

Beau glanced over at Vex. The half-elf raised an eyebrow at her. 

Beau sighed and looked around at them all. The faces of people who were strangers to her just days before, but that she had fought with and ultimately risked her life for multiple times in the past few days. 

“I know you guys promised to help me get back to my friends if I helped you guys defeat the Briarwoods.” She started. 

“And we absolutely will.” Percy said. “You made this fight easier than it would have been, Beau. You saved me from getting my neck ripped out by a vampire the other night and you and Grog basically took down Silas on your own.” 

Grog nodded. “Yeah we did.” He raised his fist and Beau gave him a fist bump from across the table. 

“I’m glad that I could help.” She shrugged after she sat back in her seat. “I’m not one to back down from a fight, anyway. Especially when it’s vampires that murdered someone’s whole family and then took over their home. Plus, the townspeople have been living in fear for years now, so…” She shrugged. “I’m just glad I could help.” 

She swallowed hard before continuing. “But what I realized last night, when you said your full name, Percy, was…” She trailed off and ran a hand down her face. “Look, one of my friends is a wizard and he was trying to complete a new ritual back in Wildemount. He was trying to do something no one had ever done before.” She paused for a second and stared at the table in front of her. “And I thought that he had just made a mistake and sent me across the ocean or something, but it turns out he did it right.” She smiled grimly and finally looked at them all. “But instead of sending himself back through time, he sent me instead.” 

There was silence. Grog was frowning at her as if he was having trouble understanding what she had said, and the others weren’t far behind him. 

“Wait.” Vax held up a hand. “You are saying that you’re from the future?” 

Beau blew out a long breath. “Sounds crazy when you say it.” She nodded. “But yeah.” 

“That’s impossible.” Percy said, shaking his head. 

“Like I said,” Beau interrupted him before he could say anything else. “My friend was doing something that had never been done before. He invented the spell and the ritual, with some help from a friend.” 

“So, when you say that you realized this when Percy said his full name…” Vex said, staring at her intensely. 

“Yeah.” Beau met her gaze. “I’ve read about you. Not just Percy, all of you. And this, with the Briarwoods. And -.” She cut herself off. “I hadn’t realized it because I - stupidly - hadn’t even thought of the possibility of this being what happened. I thought it far more likely that he had just transported me across the world.” 

They sat there in silence as everyone digested what she had said. Beau picked at a loose thread on her pants and tried not to think about what would happen if they decided she was crazy and kicked her out. She didn’t have anyone here. Caleb and Fjord were probably alive, but they were just kids. And somewhere in Wildemount, there was a baby Beau probably finding her first steps. She could find Dairon, she thought. She had never thought to ask how old the elf was, but she could guess she was at least over a hundred. She would be at the Archive in Zadash. Beau could maybe explain her situation to her and ask for help. Even though Dairon wouldn’t know her  _ now _ , Beau had some things she could say that could prove that Beau knew Dairon in her time. 

“Well, then that changes things, doesn’t it?” Percy finally said. 

Beau felt a sinking feeling in her gut. What did these people owe her anyway? Of course they would tell her to leave. Maybe Percy would at least give her some gold for helping him get back his home. 

“You’ll be staying with us a little longer than we’d thought.” Percy said after a moment. Beau blinked a few times and stared at him incredulously. 

“What?” He asked. “Did you just think we’d throw you out?” 

“Well, yeah.” Beau said. 

“Beau.” Pike said. “Of course we’re not going to throw you out! Maybe we can still help you. Allura is a very powerful wizard, maybe she would know what to do.” 

“Right.” Grog nodded. “If you’re from the future, and you can’t get back there, you’ll just stay with us.” He said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “You’re a good fighter - and we could spar together!” He said excitedly. 

Beau got flashes of her and Fjord waking up early to work out together. She smiled at the large goliath in front of her. “That sounds fun, Grog.” 

The rest of them nodded and said similar things - as if it hadn’t even crossed their mind to send Beau to the curb and let her figure it out on her own. Beau felt a small bubble of warmth in her chest as she looked around at them all, and thanked Ioun that she had been fortunate enough to be thrust back into the past at just the right place and time to meet Vox Machina. 


End file.
